WHO WILL REGULATE GASES?

E.P.A. Limit on Gases to Pose Risk to Obama and Congress
John M. Broder (w/Matthew L. Wald), December 30, 2010 (NY Times)

"With the federal government set to regulate climate-altering gases from factories and power plants for the first time, the Obama administration and the new Congress are headed for a clash that carries substantial risks for both sides…While only the first phase of regulation [took] effect on Sunday, the administration is on notice that if it moves too far and too fast in trying to curtail the ubiquitous gases that are heating the planet it risks a Congressional backlash that could set back the effort for years.

"But the newly muscular Republicans in Congress could also stumble by moving too aggressively to handcuff the Environmental Protection Agency, provoking a popular outcry that they are endangering public health in the service of their well-heeled patrons in industry…[EPA is] wedged between a hostile Congress and the mandates of the law, with little room to maneuver…[but] anti-E.P.A. zealots in Congress should realize…the agency [is] acting on laws that Congress itself passed, many of them by overwhelming bipartisan margins."

The old Congress (click to enlarge)

"President Obama vowed as a candidate that he would put the United States on a path to addressing climate change by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollutants. He offered Congress wide latitude to pass climate change legislation, but held in reserve the threat of E.P.A. regulation if it failed to act. The deeply polarized Senate’s refusal to enact climate change legislation essentially called his bluff.

"With Mr. Obama’s hand forced by the mandates of the Clean Air Act and a 2007 Supreme Court decision, his E.P.A. [imposed] the first regulation of major stationary sources of greenhouse gases [as of Jan. 2]…[but the administration is] not seeking a major confrontation over carbon regulation, which offers formidable challenges even in a less stressed economic and political climate…[It could be] too big a challenge, too complex a legal, scientific, political and regulatory puzzle…"

Will he get there? (click to enlarge)

"The immediate effect on utilities, refiners and major manufacturers will be small, with the new rules applying only to [400 facilities yearly]…in each of the first few years of the program. Over the next decade, however, the agency plans to regulate virtually all sources of greenhouse gases, imposing efficiency and emissions requirements on nearly every industry and every region…A dozen states have filed suit…Two federal courts…have refused to issue restraining orders…[But] a federal appeals court in Washington [last week] temporarily blocked the E.P.A. from enforcing its rules in Texas…[though] courts have not yet ruled on the legality…

"Representative Fred Upton, the Michigan Republican who is set to become chairman of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee…has proposed a moratorium on all global warming regulation until the courts have ruled…decisions that are probably years away…Others in Congress…have proposed a two-year delay in regulation by the E.P.A. while Congress comes up with its own rules. Virtually no one expects action on climate change legislation in the next Congressional session…White House officials have said that they will recommend that Mr. Obama veto any measure that restricts the administration’s power to enforce clean air laws…"